The accused used a Maruti van owned by Pachauri, who is a notorious criminal of the Aerodrome police station area, for committing the crime. While one of the accused used to stand in front of the gate of the targeted building or house, the others used to break into the house and steal. The presence of the car deflected suspicion of the neighbours, who thought that someone had come to visit the house.

During interrogation, the accused said that on October 5 they had stolen ornaments and other household goods from a house in Brajeshwari Annexe, which have been recovered, police said.

They also accepted that around 25 days back, they had struck at two flats at Deepshikha Apartment, Manoramaganj. The goods stolen during the theft have also been recovered.

Police said the accused had met at the Indore Central jail while serving time in other cases and decided to join hands and work as a gang. Once released a couple of months back, they started breaking into houses.

Narendra Pachauri was serving time in an attempted murder case while Bablu and Bhimu were in jail for their involvement in an attempted murder and kidnapping case in the Sanyogitaganj area. They had attempted to kidnap a five-year old girl from near the Kamla Nehru zoo.

Bablu had another record in Malhargarh, Mandsaur district where he shot at a policeman during an ongoing checking drive. He has served five-year jail term for that crime.

The police team included head constable Manohar Singh, and constables Gajendra Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Ambaram, Anurag, Raghuraj and Wasir Khan.

Mobile phone does it
It was the tapping of their mobile phones that ultimately led to the police to arrest them. Police had been keeping the mobile phone used by one of the accused under strict surveillance. They recorded the conversations between the accused about where they were going to meet and how they were going to dispose of the stolen goods, and trapped them.